Income, Assets & Program Participation

Poverty Status and Public Assistance Support Sources

Data on public assistance income sources have been collected for the Older and Young Men during select survey years. In general, data are available on income received from public assistance/welfare, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), food stamps, or Supplemental Security Income. Users should be aware that there is considerable variation across years in the types of public assistance income sources for which data were collected. In addition, (1) universes (all family members, any family member, respondent and spouse, respondent only, spouse only), (2) reporting periods (past calendar year, previous 12 months, most recent month), and (3) the wording of questions differs substantially both within and across cohorts.

User Notes

NLS surveys also collect data on Unemployment Insurance, Workers' Compensation, Disability and Social Security. None of these sources of income are considered here as part of "public assistance." The "Pensions, Social Security & Retirement" section of this guide describes some of these additional income sources.

Data on housing assistance were collected for select survey years of the Older Men. The following series of poverty status and income-poverty level ratio variables are available for the Older Men cohort only:

Poverty status variables created for the 1966, 1967, and 1969 surveys indicate whether the income of a respondent's family unit was above or below a set of Census-developed poverty income guidelines based on number of children, farm-nonfarm residence, and marital status of the respondent.

A ratio of the respondent's family income in the previous year to the poverty level was created for the 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, and 1975 surveys.

Table 1 shows more information about the assistance variables available for the two cohorts.

Table 1. Public Assistance Questions by Survey Year, Type of Assistance, Reference Period & Universe: Older and Young Men

Type of Assistance

Survey Year

Welfare / Public Asst.

Food Stamps

SSI / Public Assistance

Public Housing

Reference Period

Universe

Older Men

1966

R00277.

R00279.

--

--

Past Calendar Year

Family Members

1967

R00825.

R00828.

--

--

Past Calendar Year

Family Members

1969

R001367.

R01369.

--

--

Past Calendar Year

Family Members

1971

R02259.

R02261.

--

--

Past Calendar Year

Family Members

1973

R02674.

--

--

--

Previous 12 Months

Respondent

1975

R02832.

--

--

--

Previous 12 Months

Respondent

1976

R03340.

R03343.

R03336.-R03338.

--

Past Calendar Year

Family Members

1978

R04030.

R04025.

R04024.

--

Past Calendar Year

Respondent/Wife

1980

R04341.

R04337.

R04283.

R04342.1

Past Calendar Year

Respondent/Wife

1981

R05281.

R05276.

R05273.-R05275.

R05279.

Past Calendar Year

Family Members

1983

R05949.

R05945.

R05936.

R05950.

Previous 12 Months

Respondent/Wife

1990

R06776., R07547.

R06767., R07538.

R06762., R07533.

R06774., R07545.

Past Calendar Year

Respondent, Spouse

Young Men

1966

R00374.

--

--

--

Previous 12 Months

Family Members

1967

R00872.

--

--

--

Previous 12 Months

Family Members

1968

R01418.

--

--

--

Previous 12 Months

Family Members

1969

R01982.

--

--

--

Previous 12 Months

Family Members

1970

R02802.

--

--

--

Previous 12 Months

Family Members

1971

R03667.

--

--

--

Previous 12 Months

Family Members

1975

R04321.

R04318

--

--

Previous 12 Months

Family Members

1976

R05331.

R05332.

R05313./R05326.2

--

Previous 12 Months

Family Members

1978

R05896.3

R05890.

--

--

Previous 12 Months

Respondent/Wife

1980

R06373.3

R06368.

--

--

Previous 12 Months

Respondent/Wife

1981

--4

R07888.

R07896.

--

Previous 12 Months

R or Wife/Partner

1 The universe for this question is family members.

2 The first question refers to the respondent's receipt; the second refers to his wife's receipt.

3 These refer to the monthly average amount for the previous 12 months.

4 The 1981 Young Men survey included question R07893., which asked about the respondent's or wife/partner's monthly average of AFDC receipt over the previous 12 months. This is the only question referring to AFDC receipt for either the Older Men or the Young Men.

Survey Instruments & Documentation: Questions on public assistance income sources are found in the "Assets and Income" or "Income" sections of the Older and Young Men questionnaires. Appendix 1in the Older Men Codebook Supplement provides the poverty guidelines used in creation of the poverty status variables. Variable creation procedures for the Older Men ratio variables can be found within the codebook.